Bill making it harder to get damages from nursing homes advances

Tuesday

TALLAHASSEE - Controversial legislation aimed at making it harder to seek excessive damages from nursing homes cleared its final committee stop Monday and is headed to the Senate floor.

The bill requires "admissible" evidence be shown when someone is seeking punitive damages against a nursing home. Those are sought in a civil case where there is "reprehensible conduct."

"It says before this type of claim is proved … that you will have some relevant, admissible evidence," said Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, the bill's sponsor.

Current law requires plaintiffs to offer evidence for a pre-trial hearing, but they do not have to prove beforehand that it's admissible.

Opponents of the measure, including a family whose mother was sexually assaulted at a Jacksonville nursing home, have blasted the move as a giveaway to nursing home owners.

"The question to be answered is who benefits from this legislation?" said Kenneth Thurston.

The 2002 sexual assault of his mother, Virginia, has been a prominent part of the debate surrounding the bill. Nursing home staff found Ivy Edwards, another resident, on top of Virginia at a now-shuttered nursing home in Jacksonville. The family was awarded $750,000, which was never paid.

Since the bill's first hearing this month, opponents have also questioned the need for the measure. A 2001 change required that 50 percent of any punitive damages won from a nursing home must go to a state trust fund, which has collected no money since being created.

They argue that the trust fund change made seeking punitive damages difficult, while Galvano's bill (SB 1384) would make it next to impossible.

"Rather than permitting someone to make wild allegations, … Senator Galvano is suggesting there be a sufficient basis in the record," said Sen. David Simmons, R-Orlando.

The legislation's current form represents a compromise. A second provision in the bill would have made it more difficult to sue nursing home owners. It was removed during an April 1 committee stop, but the move was not enough to win the support of Democrats.

The House companion has only passed one committee stop, but that chamber can take up the Senate's version if it gets final passage.

matt.dixon@jacksonville.com, (352) 233-0777

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